If for some reason you can’t make it to a gym, there are many ways you can train at home and many items you can use to substitute for machinery. This is also the case of strength exercises that, although they are usually done in the gym, there are many that you can do without instruments to strengthen your muscles.
The most important thing is that you perform the movements properly, so we recommend recording yourself or doing them in front of the mirror and correcting your posture when necessary. If you already have everything ready, discover these 15 strength exercises at home, explained step by step. We’ve included all the essential training levels and progressions, so no matter your level, you’ll be able to get in shape with our selection!
Table Of Content
1. The inchworm
2. Squats or squats
3. Strides, lunges or lounge
4. side lunges
5. glute-bridge
6. One leg deadlift
7. Farmer’s walk
8. sit ups
9. Static plank (high plank)
10. side plank
11. bicep curls
12. Tricep dip with chairs
13. Reverse row pull-up with table
14. Pull-up rowing with two chairs
15. Burpees or the little soldier
The inchworm
The worm or inchworm is a very versatile exercise that works various areas of the body, mainly the abdominals, chest, upper and lower back and arms. In addition, it activates the muscles during warm-up, is toning, develops flexibility, and especially stimulates the hamstrings.
Any healthy person can practice the worm. However, if you have had a sedentary lifestyle, we recommend against doing this when starting out. Follow these steps and you will be able to do these strength and resistance exercises at home and without a machine.
- Stand with your feet together and stretch your body. Keep your legs and arms straight.
- Lean forward until the palms of your hands touch the ground (they should be in front of you), and contract the abdomen. This is the starting position of the exercise, always keep your legs straight. During the exercise, you will only bend at the hips.
- Without moving from your place, begin to take short steps with your hands to lower yourself forward until your body is extended horizontally and parallel to the ground, in the form of a plank. Your feet should rest on your toes.
- Leave your hands where they are and begin to take small steps forward with your feet. Do it without bending your legs until you get close to your hands. He begins by walking on his toes and, when it is comfortable for you, rests on your heels.
- Once you have returned to the starting position, repeat the exercise.
- Do 4 sets of 12 reps. This number can vary depending on whether you just want to train or if you want to strengthen your core.
Squats or squats
The free squat or air squat is considered an essential movement in any strength training, especially in CrossFit (it is one of their 9 essential CrossFit exercises ).
Squats serve to strengthen muscles, ligaments and joints of the legs. When it comes to muscles, the most benefited from this exercise are the quadriceps, the glutes and also, although to a lesser extent, the hamstrings and abductors.
There are squats for novice, intermediate and advanced levels (at this level weights or other difficulties are added) and they serve as physical strength exercises for women and men. In addition, they are also excellent strength exercises for children and can be easily applied in physical education classes. If you want to work hard, check out these adjustable dumbbells from Amazon that are great for squats and other strength exercises.
That said, we start our strength exercises at home for beginners, which you can adapt for advanced if you use a water bottle or another type of weight:
- Stand tall with your feet shoulder-width apart. Stretch your arms out in front of you, slightly tilted up. This is the starting position of the squat.
- Squat down, shifting your hips back and sticking out your buttocks. You should always maintain the lumbar curvature and your knees should be in line with your feet.
- Lower until your hips are below your knees. If not, you’ll be doing an incomplete squat. This is the third step of the free squat (air squat).
- Get back to the second position quickly.
- End the exercise by returning to the initial step.
- Remember to keep your heels well supported throughout the exercise so as not to hurt your knees.
- Do 4-5 sets of 10 reps until you reach 50 squats. Rest a day between each training (so the muscles will rest and recover).
Strides, lunges or lounge
The lunges are considered one of the most effective bilateral exercises that exist for individual work for each leg, so they are very useful as strength exercises for physical education.
This type of strength exercise without material works the lower body muscles: quadriceps (thighs), hamstrings, abductors, and glutes. Its main benefit is to strengthen legs and knees.
This exercise is suitable for all levels, whether men or women. If you are an expert, you can increase the difficulty by adding weight like these dumbbells from Amazon or bottles that you have at home. Follow these steps and practice it at home:
- Stand up with a straight spine.
- Spread your feet hip-width apart.
- Take a long step, bringing one leg forward. Bend your knee as far as you can until you reach a 90-degree angle.
- Lower your rear knee close to the ground, but without touching it. He supports only the toes.
- You will feel the tension in the muscles of the leg in front of you and in the gluteal area of the leg that is behind.
- Do 20 repetitions, alternating the left leg with the right.
Side lunges
There are many types of lunges, each one for a different training level, or to work more on specific parts: jump lunge, clock lunge, backward biceps curl, stationary, sideways, bow, bench press, with cable and paddle, static disc, etc.
If we talk about strength exercises at home with weights, we are talking about the advanced level of training, and to do it you just need to follow these steps:
- Stand up with your body upright. The arms should be at the sides, well stretched.
- Spread your feet apart, leaving plenty of space between them.
- Keep your hands and weights in front of you (water bottles are served). Align them with the hip bone.
- Bend your right knee and tilt your body to that side. Lower your torso and hips until they are near your knee. Another option is to keep your body straight and hold the weights at chest height.
- Lower the weights to your right foot. Place them on the sides of the foot.
- Come up to the center, return to the starting position and repeat on the other side. Do 20 reps.
Glute-Bridge
The gluten bridge or glute bridge exercise is one of the most effective lower body training routines. This progression strengthens the glutes and hips, especially working the gluteus medius and minimus muscles.
This exercise has many variants depending on the degree of difficulty of the training, but this time we will show you how to do the glute bridge for beginners:
- Lie on your back on the floor. He places his arms outstretched at his sides.
- Bend your legs and place the soles of your feet on the floor. The legs should be at a 45º angle.
- Raise your hips, just like you do in the bridge exercise.
- Never move your head and shoulders off the ground.
- Do 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps .
One leg deadlift
The deadlift is a muscular strength exercise that involves lifting a barbell off the ground. This movement is considered one of the simplest forms of weightlifting since you only lift something and return it to its place. The most worked muscles in this type of strength exercises are the glutes, the hamstrings and the spinal extensor muscles.
In this case, we have chosen a variant, called the single-leg deadlift, a unilateral exercise that allows one side of the body to be worked on in isolation, thus allowing it to develop better. This exercise can be executed by both experts and novices, whether men or women.
In this case, our single-leg deadlift is for beginners, but if you want to step up to the expert level, perform the strength exercises at home with weights or water bottles. Follow these steps:
- Stand up straight.
- Lean your torso forward as you raise one leg and contract your glutes. Bend over as if you wanted to pick something up off the floor but without reaching the ground. The trunk should be perpendicular to the leg.
- If you have a hard time standing up, finish leaning until your palms rest on the ground, that will serve as a support. If you’re using weights, they shouldn’t touch the floor, but they can be close.
- Pause and then repeat all of the above on the other leg.
- Do 3 sets of 10 repetitions.
Farmer’s walk
This muscular endurance exercise is a variation of the deadlift, featuring a focus on your grip, upper back, and core. The exercise is done without exerting force on the lower back, but practically the whole body is trained: the biceps, the triceps, the upper back muscles, the leg muscles, among others.
To execute it, you can use kettlebells, dumbbells, hexagonal bars or just a few jugs of water (market bags, sacks or other objects also work). The more expert you are, the more weight you can add. Follow these steps to practice this resistance exercise at home:
- Take a dumbbell or bottle of water in each hand. Hold them palms in. If you’re just starting out, start with 1 or 2 kilos.
- Stand up with your body upright. The arms should be at the sides, well stretched.
- Keep your hands and weights in front of you and in line with your hipbone.
- Walk slowly forward. Do it for 30 or 60 seconds.
- Do 4 reps.